WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden vowed Thursday that Afghans who helped the U.S. military “are not going to be left behind" as his administration stepped up planning to evacuate thousands of Afghan interpreters while their applications for U.S. entry are processed.

Citing US officials, multiple media outlets said that some Afghans would be sent to safe locations as they wait for their US visa applications to be processed. US officials declined to say where the Afghans would wait, and it is not clear whether third countries have agreed to take them, The New York Times wrote in a report on Thursday. More than 18,000 Afghans had applied for Special Immigrant Visa, which is available to people who face threats for working for the US government, the Xinhua news agency reported.

A group of lawmakers urged the Biden administration to protect these Afghans as the security situation in the country deteriorated, and the US military had completed more than half of the withdrawal. Taliban militants have been continuing heavy fighting against government forces since the drawdown of US troops on May 1.

Biden announced in April that all US troops would leave Afghanistan before September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the US into its longest war.

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